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Cai Rates Chinese Taipei and South Korea as Main Rivals
Chinese Taipei and South Korea were China's arch rival in the 21st Universiade table tennis, said Cai Zhenhua before the tournament begins on Thursday from August 23-29.
Cai Zhenhua, head coach of Chinese national team, said University Games is different from Olympic or World Championships and it is a difficult mission for China to book a clean sweep.
"Chinese people got used to a clean sweep in international tournaments, but Universiade is quite different. Taking age restriction into consideration, we could not send all the top paddlers in China to the Games. If a player lost, we will lose the title." said Cai.
"Chinese Taipei men' pair Chiang Peng-Lung and Chang Yen-shu, South Korea's women's pair Ryu Ji-hye and Kim Moo-Kyo are one of the world strongest pair at doubles events, but our double players, take Wang Liqin and Xi Minjie for example, didn't compete together before. They lack cooperation experiences." added Cai.
Cai also pointed out that the Universiade is a good chance for these young paddlers to enrich their experiences of large-scale competitions.
"The hopes of a first clean sweep in the history of Universiade are putting much pressure on these young players." said Cai, "but I think it is good for them because it is quite possible that these players will take part in 2004 Athens Olympics."
Cai, famous for his frankly clean sweep prediction before international competitions, set a low-key on China as saying China will snatch five golds in better.
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